Innehållsförteckning för April 2023 från Total Guitar

Welcome to this month’s issue of TG, where, as I’m sure you’ll have gathered, we’re celebrating the Gibson Les Paul. On the cover you’ll see legendary Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, who has launched a new 300-page book, The Collection: Slash, in collaboration with Gibson Publishing, documenting his huge guitar collection – and not just the Gibsons! Anyway, of course, Slash couldn’t wait to speak to TG about his new book and how Gibson’s singlecut has inspired him throughout his career. Make sure to turn to p51 where you can win a limited-run Custom edition of the book, complete with some extra goodies and signed by Slash himself, worth £849! Keeping on the Les Paul theme, we speak to blues-rock heavyweights Joe Bonamassa and Jared James Nichols, Aerosmith legend Joe…

I was actually born in the same city as Les Paul, a place called Waukesha in Wisconsin. There’s a massive street there called Les Paul Parkway that was named in tribute to him, which has all these street signs with his signature on them. So even before I knew what it was all about, when I was like five years old or whatever, I remember thinking how cool that was. I probably wanted to steal one! Later on, when I started out on guitar, I was playing a lot of Strats because of Stevie Ray Vaughan and even Telecasters, because Jimmy Page often recorded with them. And then after a while I ended up trying out a Les Paul Standard with two humbuckers. The first thing I thought was ‘Holy…

Les Paul PLAYERS When it comes to jazz-rock, few Les Pauls are as storied as Al Di Meola’s 1971 Les Paul Custom – famously held on the cover of his groundbreaking 1977 album Elegant Gypsy. By that point of his career. Al was already well-known for his breathtaking virtuosity. At the tender age of 19 he had been recruited by Chick Corea in fusion supergroup Return To Forever, with whom he’d go on to record three Top 40 Billboard albums in the mid-70s. As a solo artist he fused elements of progressive rock and flamenco into some of the most stunning guitar recordings ever committed to tape, taking those Mediterranean influences to even greater heights alongside John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía on seminal early 80s live album Friday Night…

Epiphone Les Paul Standard 50s POUND FOR POUND, THE BEST LP ON THE MARKET Never mind ‘Best Les Paul on the market’, you could mount a case for Epiphone’s 50s Les Paul Standard being the best mid-priced electric guitar you can get right now. It crucially sells the illusion that you are playing a ‘proper’ Les Paul. You’ve got the solid heft of a mahogany body, topped with a AAA figured maple veneer on the ’Burst models. The neck is a rounded C shape that fills the hand and is supremely comfortable. The ProBuckers are excellent pickups but further down the line you could upgrade them and make this a guitar for life. Epiphone Joe Bonamassa “Lazarus” 1959 Les Paul Standard A HOLY GRAIL FOR BUDDING BLUES-ROCK SUPERSTARS EVERYWHERE JoBo’s…

Maybe it’s part and parcel of the post-pandemic world that we’re seeing more and more artists who first made their names on social media during lockdowns ‘getting big’. American singer/songwriter/guitarist Stephen Sanchez is one such example, initially showcasing his music on TikTok in 2020, before eventually releasing this month’s hit in 2021. Sanchez’ guitar sound is key to the song’s retro vibe, with lashings of reverb and a thick, creamy vibrato reminiscent of Fender amps from the 1950s. You’ll need a capo way up at the 10th fret to play the song. Accurate capo placement is critical this high up the neck, so make sure to double check your tuning once it’s in position. When Sanchez performs the song solo he often plays it lower down in the key of…

Given his background in visual arts, with credits for the makeup and special effects on blockbuster films like Jurassic Park, Batman Returns and Terminator 2: Judgement Day long before guitar stardom beckoned in Tool, the recent batch of Adam Jones signatures under a new partnership with Gibson were never going to be run-of-the-mill. In 2020, the American brand unveiled its top-end Custom Shop recreation of his prized 1979 Les Paul Custom, which came with a headstock mirror and personalised graphic – 79 of which were aged by the Murphy Lab before being signed and numbered by the guitarist himself. Last year’s Standard model featured a similar graphic and personalised truss rod cover, though interestingly it’s the more affordable interpretations under Epiphone that seem to house more in terms of features…

Les Paul STYLESPLAYING STYLES 71 years have passed since the very first Les Paul rolled off the production line in 1952. Originally sold in gold and with P-90 pickups, humbuckers would come five years later, followed the very next year by sunburst finishes, thus birthing Gibson’s template for the archetypal Standard model. The Les Paul gained popularity in the 60s and 70s when soon-to-be guitar legends Eric Clapton, Paul Kossoff, Peter Green and Jimmy Page got their hands on the iconic singlecut. And soon enough, it would be seen in the hands of countless players worldwide – the legendary instrument we know today. Here we take a look at the playing styles of a few of these great guitarists. We’re branching out beyond the users of the double-humbucker Standard model,…

Les Paul PLAYERS If you look through Joe Bonamassa’s guitar rack at the side of the stage on any given night, chances are you’ll find all kinds of vintage instruments – from mouth-watering Fenders like mid-50s Strats and B-bender Teles to rare Gibson originals including Korina Flying Vs, 70s Firebirds and cherry red semi-hollows. But if there’s one guitar he’s going to play live or use in the studio more than any other, it’s the Gibson Les Paul. It was a decision made early on in his career which, much like Slash explains in this month’s cover story, came down to the design as well as the 60s and 70s masters who took the sound of American blues to new expressive heights... “I play Les Paul Standards for the simplicity,”…

CLASSIC TRACK This month we’re looking at R U Mine?, the epic riff monster and lead single from Arctic Monkeys’ fifth studio album AM. The main riff is a catchy single-note line played on the guitar’s lower strings. It’s easy enough for most players to attempt and can easily be transferred to a one-string arrangement if you prefer. Just watch out for the variations on the basic theme; you’ll find fills dotted throughout the verses and choruses, plus an odd dropout here and there. Our transcription covers all of Alex Turner’s parts plus a few fills played by Jamie Cook, which, though mirroring Alex’s line for the most part, does differ at crucial moments. Read on and all will be revealed! SOUND ADVICE Everything you need to know before playing…

What is tab? Tab is short for tablature, a notational system used to give detailed information as to where notes should be played on the fretboard. Tab appears underneath conventional music notation as six horizontal lines that represent the strings of the guitar, from the sixth (thick) string at the bottom to the first (thin) string at the top. On these lines, numbers represent which frets you place your fingers. For example, an A note on the 2nd fret, third string, will be shown as a number ‘2’ on the third line down on the tab. Unfretted strings are shown with a ‘0’. The key and time signatures are shown in the notation. TG also includes a timestamp to tell you where in the original track you’ll find each example…

REVIEW Pedal, profiling and desktop amps – three parts of the market that weren’t really significant or existent until recent years, yet they illustrate just how fast things are changing; not always with modelling technology, but the flexibility guitar players are now embracing. And it’s the desktop practice amp side of things that has the widest appeal and advantages, because they all acknowledge a simple fact; most guitarists are playing at home. Compact and packing self-contained virtual rigs inside, we’re spoilt for choice with the likes of Boss, Yamaha and Positive Grid raising the standards. Now Fender is bringing this refreshed successor for the GT40 to the table/desk. And you’ll need a fairly large one; it’s slightly bigger, taller and deeper than Positive Grid’s Spark 40 combo but the squat…

TONE TIPS 01 Change your pick Your choice of pick fundamentally affects your tone. Gentlystrummed acoustic parts laid back in the mix of a soft rock ballad generally benefit from thin picks with some give, so plastic, tortex or similar are order of the day here. Alternatively, if you want a Queen- or ZZ Top-style harmonic-rich biting electric sound, the ring of a metal pick on metal strings is best. Experiment with a variety of picks to see what works best for you. 02 Try different string gauges Some people will insist that heavier strings sound better. They may be right. They may however be wrong. What we know for sure is that you can expect a different tone from two otherwise identical string sets of a different gauge. Stevie…

Aerosmith’s Joe Perry has a long and close association with Les Pauls. Just as Jeff Beck was the inspiration for Joe to play a Les Paul, so Joe was the inspiration for Slash to play one. And in partnership with Gibson, Joe now has four signature models to his name. In Aerosmith’s early career, it was the band’s other guitarist, Brad Whitford, who mostly recorded with a Les Paul while Joe played a Strat for contrast. As Joe tells TG: “I have a lot of guitars.” But wherever he is, he always has a Les Paul close by... What are some classic Aerosmith songs where you played a Les Paul? I was just reading a John Lennon interview and he was like, ‘I don’t know about strings. We just used…

23 year-old Texan guitarist/vocalist Ally Venable is a rising star of contemporary blues music. Her new album features guest appearances from blues heroes Buddy Guy and Joe Bonamassa. She is also a fan of Les Paul legends Slash and Billy Gibbons... “I think different guitars require a different approach to playing,” Ally says. “A Les Paul will make me do different things to the other guitars I started out with. When I graduated from high school my dad bought me a Limited Colours Edition Standard from 1990, which is the Magenta model I’ve been mainly using for the last four or five years. I love a good humbucker sound and you can hear how that guitar coming into life actually changed the music I’ve been making. For some reason, the…

Following the intro solo, the first thing that’ll strike you is the agile fingering required for the distinctive C minor pentatonic riff in bars 9 to 10 and 25 to 26. It may be useful to use your third and fourth fingers for the first two notes, or you might prefer to ‘roll’ your third finger across the two strings. Some sections include a ‘PM’ indication (palm mute): to achieve this you should lower the side of your picking hand to lightly touch the strings near the bridge whilst playing the notes indicated. It’s best to bring the picking hand as close to the bridge as possible, otherwise these muted notes will become inaudible. Notice how the palm‑muted sections are shown on certain passages with a bracket, often ending before…

HOW WE TEST CURATION Our product selection is driven by our love of gear. We select the most exciting products on the market every month to bring you opinions you can trust. FACE-VALUE REVIEWS We’re not gear snobs here at Total Guitar. We judge it on whether it looks good, sounds good and plays well – not by the name on the headstock. NO SNAKE OIL You won’t find us getting hung up on hokey mythology or nonsense marketing speak: we aim to bring you bullsh*t-free opinions on the gear you’re interested in. WE CAN’T BE BOUGHT TG review scores are a true reflection of our experts’ opinion on the product they’ve been testing. You’ll never find a rating in our mag that has been bought and paid for. REAL…

Signature models are a funny business – for every fan you can attract with an artist model, there are more that could also be turned off. Shawn Mendes is a suitably massive pop star to justify the bold step of... wait for it... an inlay signature here. Yep, we told you it was bold. The swallows (inspired by the musician’s hand tattoo) on the 000JR-10E’s bridge have positively universal appeal by comparison, and the laser etched lyrics inside the body are subtly and randomly selected for each guitar. So subtle in fact that we couldn’t even find it inside our review model! But there’s more to this Custom Artist Edition than cosmetics. We’re impressed to find that this guitar is sustainably built from 100% FSC-certified tonewoods, at the request of…

15 years ago, Anglo-French guitarist Laura Cox unknowingly set out on the path to stardom when she began posting note-perfect classic rock covers on YouTube with, she says, “nothing in mind other than to get some feedback.” Fast-forward to today and, unlike thousands of content creators, the still young player has forged a career that extends far beyond the online realm. With her third album Head Above Water out now and a season of touring unfolding before her, Laura measures her success not in video views, but in tangible artistic growth. “Transitioning wasn’t easy,” she reflects. “But I’m really proud I’ve managed because there aren’t a lot of people doing this. I’m not even sure they want to – I think most YouTubers want to stay on that platform.” Her…